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If consuming less calories is on your to-do list this fall, go about it in the smartest way possible. As with the cookie jar syndrome, what we can’t have we will inevitably crave and this means a greater likelihood for breaking any diet. In essence, we want to cut the calories but not the joy and satisfaction that we reap from a good meal. This is a difficult proposition: our diets are usually determined by myriad factors besides just the calories on the plate. Your mood, level of activity, and

• Eat breakfast: people who eat breakfast every day are found lower on the BMI scale and consume less calories per day than those who skip breakfast. This is because you will feel less hungry throughout the day and therefore you won’t seek out extra calories later that day to compensate. 
• Slow down: Mowing through food before your body even has the chance to process what is happening? This is a good way to eat more than you need to. Discipline yourself to fully chew each bite before moving on and enjoy the food. Chances are you will feel full faster and not need a second helping. 
• Use soup and salad as “ruffage.” These are not empty calories: the nutritional benefit that comes along with most soup and salad makes these calories valuable. The fact that they make you feel a little more full is just an added bonus. 
• Drink water: working on the same principle as above, but with zero calories. Water is important for regulating many functions in the body, but it also helps us feel just slightly fuller. 
• Smaller plates: I’m sure you’ve heard this one before, but portion control is important. Humans eat, on average, 93% of what is in front of them. 
• Finally, utilize protein. And it does not need to come with the excess fat. Eating lean proteins that are derived from beans, lean meats and low-fat dairy products can be a tasty way to get the protein your muscles need without the extra fat. 

Nutrition is one of the two most important elements of a successful weight plan. For people concerned with the longevity of your spine (your chiropractor included) maintaining a healthy weight is one of the best things you can do. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

Stretching that increases both flexibility and strength is a win-win. Modern lifestyles seem to be about optimization: the streamlining of social lives into cell-phone applications, the search engine optimization and analytics of an internet driven culture, and workplace productivity pitting humans vs. machines. In this crazy world of efficiency, it almost makes the most sense to apply this notion to our health. Stretching has long been considered to be key in any plan that seeks to prevent injury and to preserve the longevity of muscles, joints and structures of the body. Resistance stretching is a relatively newer region of health that is taking the Olympic athletic world by storm.

Resistance stretching is a matter of optimization: by stretching you are increasing flexibility and by adding resistance, whether assisted by equipment or simply using your muscles, you are also strengthening. There are specific movements that can be done with little cost besides time, from your living room.

Stretches that also strengthen include: 

• Resisted neck twists
• Resisted hip flexion 
• Partner-resisted chest and upper back stretches
• Partner-resisted hamstring stretches

The minute-to-value ratio has never been so stacked in your favor: make all those minutes in front of the Netflix screen work for you instead of against you by devoting a few minutes during the show to serious stretching. At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we want you to take your health into your hands; we help you do this by providing you with the knowledge and demonstration of practical stretches that will preserve your flexibility and strength and boost your overall well-being. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

Most injuries that cause back pain and stiffness are not forever. At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we know that there is no written-in-stone method for a successful recovery from a back injury; each injury is unique and will require its own formula integrating physical therapy, nutrition and exercise. However, when it comes to rehabbing a specific injury, there are things to be avoided in order to give yourself the best chance of success. Bed-rest is therefore not your friend; one thing that most injuries share in common is reacting well to regular activity. For all but the most severe back injuries, we try to get you moving with low-impact aerobic activity as soon as possible. Other things you can do: 

• Focus on core strength: keeping the stabilizing muscles conditioned is a great way to share the burden with those intervertebral discs in the lower back. 
• Watch out for muscle atrophy: A chief side-effect of injury is that it limits our proclivity for activity. Staying sedentary contributes to muscle and joint weakness, and actually hinders the speed of your recovery.
• Stay as flexible as possible: activities like swimming are great because they promote active-stretching: a one hour session in the pool helps preserve range of motion in nearly every joint. If you are not inclined toward water, we can show you land borne stretches that will provide the same benefit.  
• What to avoid: running, if possible, because of its jarring effect on joints. Being sedentary for too long; lumbar flexion and rotation activities; leg lifts and sit ups. 

At our office in Sacramento, we utilize modalities including chiropractic adjustment, spinal decompression and lumbar traction to help you heal. After an evaluation of the state of your spine and a discussion about your limitations and health aspirations, we can help you get on the road to your most optimal recovery.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

Sleep is integral to well-being. You can’t reasonably expect to feel your best or perform to your highest standard after a single night of sleeplessness, let alone chronic sleep deprivation that is the result of many more serious conditions. Sleep is linked to quality of life on so many levels because too little sleep can contribute to conditions including:

• Depression
• Chronic headaches
• Heart Disease
• Obesity

Chronic sleep deprivation takes a toll on our cognitive function and emotional center. Often, physical and mental stress overlap and to solve one, we must necessarily untangle it from the other; to sleep your best, you must feel your best. Trying to fall asleep with a pain in your neck or back can snowball into a fretful night spent tossing and turning to no avail.

At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we help by addressing problem areas including subluxation, trigger points and strained muscles that could be preventing you from accessing deep sleep. Massage therapy is particularly effective at opening up an injurious region to an influx of oxygen and healing nutrients. Along the way, endorphins, the body’s feel good chemical, are released helping you to achieve a more relaxed mental state. From the vantage point of a healthy back, we help you turn the tide against mental stress by coming up with lifestyle adjustments to account for sleep health. Even with pain, restful sleep can be achieved with a proactive approach; give our office in Sacramento a call to start making changes today. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

Today, a topic ripped straight from the pages of the 21st century: the growing prevalence of neck injuries related to text messages. Rewind about 40 years ago and there is no way you could convince me the average human was concerned about a pocket computer creating problems for the average neck. Now, it is our reality: overuse of cell phones is creating premature degeneration of the spine. The problem involves looking down; before cell phones, the things that made us look down the most were books and the laptop computer. If we were not heeding the advice to read at eye level and arm’s length then, we certainly aren’t doing so now with cell phones.

Holding the cell phone in a manner that keeps your spine in neutral posture puts strain on the arms; it is much easier to hold the phone in your lap or at hip-level to conduct social media management. However, when we look down for prolonged periods of time, we are exponentially increasing the weight of the head in relation to the spine. The body responds by calling on all of the muscles involved with posture: from the core, to the shoulders, upper back and neck, most of your upper body has now taken on more stress. When this stress accumulates over prolonged periods of time, muscle strain is a natural outcome. From muscle strain it is a natural progression to painful muscle spasms and limitation in range of motion and flexibility. 

Unfortunately, the groups most at risk are the younger generations. Various studies indicate that people between the ages of 18 and 44 cannot go 2 hours without a cell phone at their side. As a culture, the price of progress is shifting spinal problems to a younger generation. At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we are hoping to raise awareness of this issue and get people to look up once in a while. Maybe it is not cool to hold your cell phone out in front of your face at a healthy distance, but is it cool to have back problems at age 18? We don’t think so, and to this end, we offer you our expertise and treatment in support of backs that face more challenges than ever in the fight to stay healthy. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C.

Cartilage is precious: the thin layer of tissue which cushions the ends of bones in a joint, is responsible for preventing your bones from grinding on each other. This cartilage can be compromised by a host of factors including injury, the wear and tear of age, and the more insidious auto-immune disorders which cause the body to attack its own healthy tissue. Of the more than 100 types of arthritis, there are two primary types: non-inflammatory and inflammatory.

Non-inflammatory arthritis, of which Osteoarthritis is the best known, is the type whereby years of wear and tear lead to degeneration of the cartilage and inflammation ensues. Don’t let the name fool you: inflammation is created as a byproduct of the degeneration process and can be every bit as painful as the kind produced in, “inflammatory arthritis.” This is why arthritis is thought of as a disease of the elderly, with some estimates stating that 1 in 2 Americans over the age of 65 suffer from some degree of arthritis pain. However, it is important to note that 2/3 of the total people with doctor-diagnosed arthritis are between 18 and 65. 

Inflammatory arthritis, best known as rheumatoid arthritis, is an autoimmune disease in which the body turns on its own tissue. As the cartilage degenerates, painful inflammation is created by the body which limits range of movement. This is most commonly felt in the wrists, hands and fingers. 

A happy life with arthritis is attainable. We offer the kind of support you need to enact a plan for management of your arthritis symptoms including chiropractic adjustment and the pursuit of simple lifestyle changes to the diet and level of activity that will ensure you can live with and beyond your pain.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

When it comes to diet in America, I think it is prudent to focus on how delicious, nutritious foods can be just as convenient and immediately gratifying as fast food. Foods like flax seeds and chia seeds are the new salmon and blueberries. They are foods that provide a full serving in 2 tablespoons but contain a range of health benefits that can boggle the brain. The verdict is in: super foods make your life simple. 

Here are some of the foods that you should look for next time you make a pass through the grocery store. 

• Chia seeds: omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, protein, calcium and magnesium. What could be better for a person with arthritis than something packed with anti-inflammatory and bone strengthening properties. 
• Hemp seeds: protein packed, containing all the essential amino acids necessary for growth and repair of muscle and also contain omega-3 and 6 fatty acids. 
• Seaweed: Before you protest, it can be cooked deliciously. And when you consider the health benefits, it becomes a no-brainer: seaweed is packed with omega-3s, and is full of minerals that are important for bone health including calcium and magnesium. 

I selected these three superfoods because they all contain health properties that can be combined with a chiropractic treatment plan. Nutrition is amazing because it offers you the variety to specifically tailor a diet to your needs. Any and all of these foods can be found in concentrated forms such as powders that can be thrown into any meal for a boost. Sometimes, all it takes is a conversation to unlock the thirst for the power of nutrition in a person’s life. At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we are here to initiate this conversation. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C.

Honestly reflect for a second: How proactive are you in terms of spinal health at work? Do you give yourself the ergonomic support you need every hour of the day; do you take regular breaks to hydrate; do you stretch at least once an hour? An honest answer for many people is probably no: the 8 hours go by and, besides the lunch break, you were deskbound for long periods of time, allowing tension to accumulate. So how do we stop feeling stiff at the end of the day? The formula is simple and the sooner you start the better: it requires a mix of ergonomic support, hydration and nutrition, posture and regular stretching. The stretching is the part we will focus on today because it’s the best way to immediately break any tension that is accumulating. 

The next time the thought strikes you, just stand up. Have a deep breath and reach for the ceiling, then stretch your arms out in front of you and hold them, with palms facing outward at full extension for about 5 seconds. Then walk to the water fountain or have a substantial drink from your water bottle. Before putting your head down and returning to work, try a stretch that works to relieve pressure in the shoulders, hips and back. 

• Palms on lower back
• Push with your hands and stretch your back in the direction of your palms. 
• You should know have your pelvis and lower stomach pronounced.
• Hold this position for 5 seconds and return to normal. Repeat this 3 times. 

It takes about 120 seconds to become a real workplace hero in this scenario. By being proactive about your own health you influence everyone around you. A culture that revolves around healthy workplace habits makes for a more productive employee pool. Give our office in Sacramento a call if you are serious about limiting the toll that the office is taking on your spine. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

Counting calories is an unpleasant reality of aging. For people who spend most working days in the office, the struggle to maintain equilibrium can often tip in the favor of more calories consumed than burned. As we age and metabolism starts to slow, we start to see and feel the excess. So often the odds are stacked against us because we start at a point of disadvantage: the more weight we have to shed to achieve, the less likely we are to take the initiative and follow through with a weight loss plan. The best way we have found is to take it slow and do it together. 

When envisioning and implementing any weight loss plan, we want to keep sight of the primary equation. To maintain a healthy weight, calories consumed = calories burned. For people who are modestly overweight and looking to reach their personal, “healthy weight,” it will take a coordinated effort between diet and exercise. This means limiting calories and increasing activity. 

Can you cut 2.5 hours out of every week to devote to moderate aerobic activity? Can you cut out 500 calories a day to lose 1 pound per week? Perhaps that sounds drastic, so we start where you feel comfortable and build on your success. Because each person’s body is different, each person’s caloric needs are specific to the individual.

 We help by keeping the structures and muscles of your body in proper working order, improving your circulation, and providing you with a natural energy boost that both improves state of mind and motivates you to get moving. From here it is a matter of small lifestyle adjustments and we help to provide an accountability and moral support team that boosts your chances of success.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C.

Getting wet could be your ticket to a healthier spine. We always tell people, when trying to improve the state of your spine, or to rehabilitate an injury, movement is key. Movement reduces pain, but pain reduces movement. The key is to get out of this cycle and we can help: our chiropractic adjustment will help improve range of motion and reduce inflammation so that you can get up and be active. One of the best destinations from here is the pool.

Swimming is a great, holistic exercise for the body. Low-impact and high reward, it actually strengthens joints rather than weakening them the way running does. The buoyancy of water provides support for the body by removing the pull of gravity but it also provides natural resistance as you glide through the water. The benefits are enormous. 

Water therapy also removes the pressure of gravity, but gets you moving in a less exhaustive manner. Certain programs can actually be used to target your specific back pain. 

Soaking is the easiest method, but it is not to be ignored. Warm water is great for healing joints, relaxing sore muscles and promoting blood circulation. 

Swimming is primal and perhaps this is why we feel so good in the water. At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we want to see people start getting wet for the sake of their spine. Call our office to schedule an evaluation of your spine to find out if swimming could be right for you! You never know until you try, and it is never too late to start. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C.